A MAN driven by anger and jealousy plunged a knife into a mother-of-four four times when their 10-year relationship came to an end.

It was cold, calculated and deliberate, Chester Crown Court heard.

Peter Davies, 50, of Bryn Garmon, admits he stabbed Kerry Edwards to death following the ending of their relationship.

But he pleads not guilty to murder, his defence being provocation and diminished responsibility.

Although refuse lorry driver Davies had left the Rhydymwyn home he shared with Kerry in June last year, he planned to go on holiday to Spain with her and three of their children on July 13 - with hopes he could save the relationship.

Kerry was due to pick him up from his sister's house in Mold, where he was living temporarily, but the night before he called at Kerry's house in the early hours of the morning and discovered her new boyfriend, John Ball, sleeping there.

Giving evidence to Chester Crown Court, Davies, told how he assaulted Ball with a baseball bat, inflicting two head wounds which needed 18 stitches - for which he was prosecuted.

Kerry went on holiday with her daughters, while Davies said he returned to Mold feeling more depressed.

The week before he claimed he had thought about gassing himself in his car.

On July 18, after taking sleeping tablets and two bottles of paracetamol, he wrote four suicide notes to members of his family and to Kerry.

When he woke up the next morning he decided to buy a length of rope.

'I was going to hang myself from the banister in Ann's (his sister) house.'

But Jamie, the son from his first marriage, called and stayed for two hours.

His other sisters, Sheila and Debbie, called after that so Davies said he hid the rope and suicide notes in his car.

The court heard about Davies' earlier life, his marriage to Tina Hughes in 1984 and how it had failed after he had an affair, how he had suffered severe depression and attempted a drugs over-dose in November 1991.

The court also heard of his close bond with his father who he worked alongside in a haulage company until they were both made redundant and Davies began work as a council bin lorry driver.

He met Kerry in 1994 at a pub, the Owain Glyndwr at Gwernymynydd, which was managed by Kerry's parents.

She already had three children. Their relationship developed and Davies moved into her home in Rhydymwyn.

Their daughter, Kimberley, was born on July 31, 1995.

But the death of his father from cancer drove Davies into a deep depression and he began binge drinking.

Earlier the court heard how after three days of police questioning, Davies still refused to acknowledge he had stabbed Kerry.

But then in October his solicitor Phil Lloyd Jones rang police after he visited Davies in Altcourse Prison, because Davies had told him where he had left the knife, rope, and other items police had been searching for.

Davies had drawn a map and police followed the instructions to find the rope Davies had bought to hang himself, two empty bottles of alcohol and a carrier bag.

But the knife was not found and the court heard it still hasn't been recovered.

Davies hid from police for several hours before giving himself up at Mold Police Station.

The prosecution say he had self-inflicted stab wounds but they were superficial.

The jury heard that when Davies' car had been found in Ivy Crescent, Mold, letters were discovered addressed to members of his family.

In one letter to Kerry he wrote: 'I hope you had a great holiday. Now it is time to say goodbye, you have won.

'It's time to go to sleep. I love you with all of my heart, tell my little angel I love her.'

In other letters he tells his family he loves them and he's sorry.

He says Kerry has tried her best and he has 'been stupid again.'

He talks about going to a better place and writes with great emotion about the death of his father which he had not got over.

The prosecution however, claims Davies acted out of anger and jealousy because he could not accept Kerry had started a new relationship and the murder was a cold and calculated act.

Mr Roddick QC said: 'Before May 2004 the relationship between her and the defendant had become intolerable for Kerry, due to his behaviour generally and especially towards her.'

Kerry worked for Albrite Cleaning Services as a supervisor, contract cleaning at Castle Cement at Padeswood, where she met John Ball of Blacon, Chester, who worked as a security man.

In June last year Davies moved out of the home and went to stay with his sister at an address in Mold.

Davies had asked to meet a welfare officer at Flintshire, Andrew Macbeth, after he was found guilty of the affray said Mr Roddick as he had not yet been sentenced and wanted to know if he was jailed whether he would keep his job.

Mr Macbeth recalled Davies was 'bitterly angry' and said it was a good job she had gone abroad, if she had stayed he 'would have killed her.'

Mr Roddick said: 'That took Mr Macbeth by surprise and he said 'surely you don't mean that?' To which Davies replied 'I do mean it, I spent 10 years of my life in that relationship', The next morning he killed her.'

Davies was in the habit of binge drinking, said Mr Roddick. On July 30 he visited pubs and then bought 20 cans of lager, drinking 10 of them.

He got up early on the morning of Saturday, July 31, got in his car, taking with him a rope and a knife with a seven inch (17cm) long blade.

Kerry too had been up early, prepared a birthday card for her daughter and by 7.45am had left for work at Padeswood in Ball's red Nissan car.

Davies had been driving in the opposite direction when he spotted her, turned around and chased her at high speed.

He eventually pulled her over in a lay-by near Synthite works Mold, on the A541.

'He got out, took the knife and walked up to where Kerry was sitting in the car and plunged the knife into her, once, twice, three times, four times, these were no slashes as in a frenzy.

'She probably died there and then. It happened in broad daylight and there were a number of witnesses. He walked back to the car, the knife with him, and continued driving in the direction of Mold,' said Mr Roddick.

He told the court that Davies drove up Raikes Lane towards Clwyd Theatr Cymru, parked his car in the underground car park and then made off on foot over fields into a woodland where he stayed for some considerable time while a massive police operation was under way with the helicopter searching for him.

About 12 hours after the stabbing Davies emerged and drove to the Wylfa garage on the outskirts of Mold to buy some more alcohol.

At about 1am, with members of his family, he walked into Mold Police Station.

He had two stab wounds to his abdomen which were not serious and self-inflicted, said Mr Roddick.

A doctor described him as 'alert, orientated and coherent'.

At first Davies said he could not remember the incident. Then he said he was depressed and had taken prescribed tablets with his drink which gave him hallucinations and he had attempted suicide.

One psychiatrist had concluded that Davies was suffering from depression which was an abnormality of the mind and it was for the jury to decide whether that led to diminished responsibility.

'What drove him to kill was anger and jealousy, it was a cold, calculated course of conduct,' said Mr Roddick.